Your Morning Phil: Sale vs. Verlander, strikeouts, Conte

August 23, 2012|Phil Rogers | On Baseball

Talking baseball while wondering if you’ve noticed that the PGA Tour is starting its playoffs:

1. Cross your fingers: There’s an excellent chance that baseball fans are going to get one of the great matchups of the season a week from Sunday in Detroit -- Chris Sale vs. Justin Verlander. The only way it doesn’t happen is if: A) Someone gets hurt, or B) Jim Leyland doesn’t have a sense for the dramatic.

Sale, who picked up his 15th win last night, should start again next Tuesday in Baltimore, with an extra day’s rest because the White Sox don’t play Thursday. That means he will be lined up for the Sept. 2 game at Comerica Park, which will be featured on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.

Verlander’s schedule isn’t quite as clear at this point. He starts Thursday afternoon against Toronto and then will start either next Tuesday or Wednesday in Kansas City.

If Leyland keeps his rotation in order, Verlander will go Wednesday, which means he would miss the weekend series against the White Sox. But by moving Verlander in front of Anibal Sanchez and starting him Tuesday, with his regular four days of rest (the Tigers are off Monday), Leyland would have Verlander positioned to work against the Sox, and you’d figure he would rather have the reigning Cy Young winner against them than Cleveland, on the day after the White Sox leave town.

Ace vs. ace in September, possibly with the division lead on the line -- this could be fun.

2. Speaking of Sale, wow. He was really, really good against the Yankees. Piling up 13 strikeouts against them -- including three against future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki -- made it a night to remember for a long time. The Yankees aren’t really whiff masters. They are eighth in the AL in most strikeouts, and Sale made them seem overmatched.

He needed to be sharp as the White Sox weren’t doing much damage against Phil Hughes. One interesting thing about the matchup is that Sale got 38 strikes on pitches that were taken (24) or swung and missed (14), compared to 31 for Hughes (with a 22-9 ratio of called and swinging strikes). That’s not a huge difference, yet Sale had eight more strikeouts. That suggests he can dial it up when it’s time to put away a hitter, and that’s a huge tool for any pitcher. Sale was making his second consecutive start on regular rest, so he should benefit from the one extra day off before facing the Orioles. Those guys are second in the AL in strikeouts, so look out.

3. BALCO founder Victor Conte was a guest on Comcast SportsNet’s "Chicago Tribune Live" Wednesday night. Among other topics, I asked him what he thought about 2011 NL MVP Ryan Braun. It’s fair to say he isn’t buying Braun’s innocence.

"In my opinion, he’s as guilty as a $3 bill," Conte said. "He should have been punished. It’s just sad that Major League Baseball got exposed (as having a flawed drug testing program)."